BANGKOK, Thailand — One of the world’s best former amateur golfers is leading after two rounds of the LIV Golf Tournament in Thailand.
Former Oklahoma State player Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra turned pro to play in the LIV Series. The two-time first-team All-American was ranked No. 2 in World Amateur Golf before signing a three-year deal with the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.
On Saturday, he birdied three of the first five holes and the sixth for a 9-under 63 and a five-shot lead after two rounds of the 54-hole event.
After the first round, the Spaniard, one of his partners, was 16-under 128 for the 36-hole course at the newly opened Stonehill Golf Club north of Bangkok.
It was a four-way race for second. First-round co-leaders Richard Bland (68), Sihwan Kim (66), Harold Varner III (66) and Patrick Reed (65) were 11 under.
Brandon Grace, one of the first-round leaders along with Lopez-Chacarra and Bland, withdrew after three holes Saturday with an injury.
“The conditions are great and the course is incredible,” Lopez-Chakara said. But I think the key is I went back to see what I was doing in college because I was doing really well and the first four weeks I didn’t do as well as a pro and it was just trying to have fun and then play to not make bogeys.
“I’m hitting it really well, but I’m playing smart and I’m having fun.”
LIV Golf is the first time outside the United States since the event opened near London in early June.
